Legal Recruitment Blog

I read your article on www.legalrecruitment.blogspot.com and was wondering if you could give me some advise on the following matter. I achieved a 2:2 in Law 8 years ago, for about 6 months after my degree I went on to work in 2 law firms as a temporary office administrator. I learned a few things and was even more interested in pursuing a career in law, after the contract was finished and the fact that I couldn't get another job straight away I decided to go on and do other things and among this was opening my own limited company - facilities management company. The company is still in existence and have been in business for over 3 years now, but after learning that my degree will be stale after 7 years I then decided to go on and dothe LPC as I always knew I was going to continue and finish off to qualify as a solicitor at some stage in my life. My main concern is what are my chances of securing a Training Contract especially after being out of college for so long, and the situat...

www.tenpercent.co.uk/low-cost-legal-recruitment.html In March 2010 Ten Percent Legal Recruitment introduced Ten-Percent Unlimited, a revolutionary concept giving law firms the chance to recruit directly using our database resources with a one-off fee for a 12 month period. We will allow you to contact as many candidates as you want to through our database, whether by letter, e-mail or telephone, and to recruit without any further charge. To use the service effectively, you need to consider the following: 1. Recruitment is turned on its head. You are playing the part of the legal recruiter (ie us!), and hence you need to be very nice indeed to candidates. 2. Most of our candidates are always interested in hearing about positions, and lawyers tend to be flattered if they think they are being headhunted. This is the best way of approaching them. 3. Keep all communication as short and vague as possible - candidates tend to be put off by specifics when in fact a position can suit them perf...

Writing a legal CV is fairly easy providing you remember the following: 1. Put your name at the top of the page. (about 1% of all CVs omit this rather important information. 2. Include your date of birth if you feel it is an asset to you. 3. Include a profile underneath your personal and contact details. In this profile put your jobtitle (tailored to the post you are going for), the number of years experience you have, where you are looking for work, how much money you want and when you can start. Keep it very brief indeed. 4. Include your date of qualification if relevant and also date of admission. Dont forget the PSC if you are a solicitor. 5. For your work experience write as much as possible in bulletpointed format. This is by far the most important section on the CV. Facts and figures wherever possible. 6. Dont forget your job title in the work experience section. Again - tailor it where possible. 7. Put your computer skills on the CV. Case management systems always welcome. 8. A...

Locuming requires you to almost certainly register as self-employed with the HMRC (a very easy procedure - see their website) and to be prepared for periods out of work (see above). It used to be very lucrative but not so much these days due to the market being so much tighter. You do not need to do anything in order to provide locum services, but it is probably worth making a decision whether you want to work through an umbrella company or go self-employed directly to firms. Some agencies offer employed locum work, but Ten-Percent does not deal on that basis. Do not turn any locum work down to start with if at all possible. http://www.ten-percent.co.uk/locum.htm

Locum Season starts - 10 tips for getting ease of mind - Register Locum Vacancies We often get asked by firms who rarely use locums how exactly they go about using them, so below are our ten top tips for getting the most out of locums and effectively using them. 1. Give as much notice as you can to the locum agency, regardless of who you use. Good locums tend to get booked up a long time in advance... 2. Do not think that a locum will work on the same wage levels as a permanent member of staff. They won't. As a rule of thumb, most locums work 7-9 months out of 12 and cannot afford to negotiate too far down on daily rates. It used to be a very lucrative line of work, but not anymore as work has got harder to come by. 3. Do not use a locum to clear up a mess unless you have specifically told them beforehand that this is the assignment. We know of locums who have walked straight out of assignments like this on the first day for fear of the mess affecting their practising certificates....

Hello - Sundip has contacted us and asked if he can keep everyone who reads the Legal Recruitment Blog updated with his progress, as well as get support and advice as required. His first post is below: first thing i would like to say is thank you for setting up this blog, its fantastic and very informative. I would like to say, i have decided i will be undertaking the ilex route into the profession. The main reason is because I would like to gain hands on experience and also study at the same time. I have been a special constable for the police for 6 years now, and i feel its time for me to work on the "other side" as they call it, i am fully aware that criminal solicitors do not get paid as much compared to solicitors in other areas, So i am still in a decision as to what field i want to qualify in. But i think most likely it will be the criminal side as I already have advocacy practice being in the police. I would just like to add, what advice would you give me in order to ...

Key points from March survey: Strongest growth of permanent placements since October 1997. Temporary/contract staff billings rose at sharpest rate for thirty-four months. Growth of vacancies eased but remained marked. Further rise in candidate availability. Wages and salaries increased again. This is one of the most positive reports on the recruitment industry for some time, although it has to be said that the strongest growth bit is a little bit of a red herring as the market has been stunted for so long it wouldnt be hard for it to expand rapidly! The main findings for March are: Permanent placements rose at fastest pace for over twelve years... The number of permanent staff appointments made by UK recruitment consultancies increased again in March, with growth picking up to the strongest since October 1997. Higher placements were underpinned by a further expansion of permanent staff vacancies, albeit the slowest in three months. ...while temp billings also increased at sharper rate ...